


Moonshadow

by story_monger



Series: You're The Only North Star (Platonic VLD Week) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Platonic Relationships, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9945623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/story_monger/pseuds/story_monger
Summary: When you're stuck on a tiny planet doing ship repairs, hoverbike races are the logical next step.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Platonic VLD Week
> 
> **Day 1 (Feb. 26): Sunlight / Moonlight**  
>  Day 2 (Feb. 27): Quiet / Chaos  
> Day 3 (Feb. 28): Lions / Bonding  
> Day 4 (Mar. 1): Enemies / Family  
> Day 5 (Mar. 2): Got your back / Don’t let go   
> Day 6 (Mar. 3): Injury / Healing  
> Day 7 (Mar. 4): Free Day / AU

“You sure that’s a planet?” Pidge asks, peering through the castle’s main viewport. “It looks more like a moon. Or a glorified asteroid.”

“Don’t be mean,” Hunk chastises. “I’m sure it’s trying its best.”

“Well, its orbital path encircles a star, so in the broadest sense, yes, it’s a planet,” Coran speaks up from the control board.

“The main point is that it’s small and far away from any Galra operations,” Allura adds. “Which means it’s an ideal place to complete some much-needed repairs on the castle. Coran, how does our descent look?”

“Clear as a Hueda day, Princess. Beginning entry sequence now.”

“You’re right though, Pidge,” Lance says, squinting down at the body rotating slowly beneath them. “That’s one bitty planet.”

“Right?” Pidge glances back at Coran. “Does it even have an atmosphere?”

“Barely,” Coran says cheerfully. “And its surface temperature is well, well below freezing, so take care not to remove those helmets when you’re outside the castle.”

“Aw, c’mon, seriously?” Lance whines, straightening. “Couldn’t you find a beach planet?”

“Not many options out here, I’m afraid,” Coran says. “We’re just lucky we found a planet with acceptable gravity. Speaking of which, entering gravitational well now.”

Lance purses his lips as the ship begins to shake slightly, watching the planet’s golden-gray surface rise to meet them.

* * *

 

The planet is just as unimpressive close up as it was from space. The low temperature and lack of atmosphere means it has no life to speak of, so the landscape is vast and rocky and boring under the light of a large, orange sun. If it weren’t for the golden-gray color of the soil, it would look exactly like Earth’s moon.

“And at least our moon has malls and parks and things,” Lance says, pausing to adjust the beam he’s helping Shiro carry. “There’s literally nothing out here.”

“That’s kind of the point,” Shiro says.

“I mean, we barely ever get to go planet side,” Lance continues. “And when we do, it’s to fight someone or do diplomacy stuff. And that’s awesome and everything, but if we get to chill out on a planet for a few days, it’d be nice to do it somewhere with _air_.”

“Huh,” Shiro says. Lance squints.

“What?” he asks, because at this point he knows Shiro well enough to tell that there’s a whole lot being unsaid in that ‘huh’.

“Nothing,” Shiro says, hefting the beam slightly.

“Shiro!”

“What?”

Lance glares, and Shiro’s mouth lifts at the corner. “I’ll let you know if it becomes relevant,” he says. “Promise.”

Lance glares harder, but Shiro’s poker face is about as good as it gets, so Lance gives up with a huff.

For the next few hours, Allura and Coran keep them busy with repairs to different parts of the ship’s exterior. Lance ends up as one of the gophers, ferrying tools and parts to either Coran, Hunk, or Pidge. The planet’s low gravity makes things easier, but Lance’s muscles are still aching by the time Coran announces that they’ve made good progress and can take a break.

Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith opt to sprawl across the ship’s main steps. The planet might be rocky and tiny, but it’s open space, unrestricted by walls or underlain by a constantly humming engine. It’s better than nothing.

“It’s sort of peaceful here,” Keith says, thoughtfully crossing his ankles and leaning back on his elbows.

“Sort of boring,” Lance mutters.

“That’s not boring,” Hunk says, pointing into the horizon. The planet’s large, orange star is setting, smearing the sky and land in brilliant colors. When Lance glances around, he realizes that the castle ship is painted vivid orange-gold by the sunlight.

“Hang on,” Lance says, frowning. “It’s already evening? The sun was rising, like, a couple hours ago.”

“This planet must have a really fast rotation,” Hunk says, twirling one finger. “Looks like the days here last a few hours at most.”

“Huh.” Lance leans back, considering the sunset thoughtfully. “Space is weird.”

Hunk snorts, and Pidge glances at him with raised eyebrows. “Glad you’re just now figuring that one out,” she says.

Before Lance can say something smartass in return, Shiro appears at the foot of the steps. “Okay guys,” he says, hands on his hips and a very, very suspicious grin on his face. “I’ve got some training set up for us.” There’s a general chorus of groans from everyone except Keith.

“We’ve been working all day!” Lance protests. “Literally!”

“And you can work a little more,” Shiro says. He moves off to the right. “Come on, I’ve got everything ready to go.”

The four of them exchange glances before Keith pushes himself to a stand, and the others follow slowly. They clamber down the steps and round the castle to where Shiro waits for them. There, they find five vehicles that look like Altean versions of hoverbikes lined up in a row.

“What’s this?” Pidge asks, frowning at Shiro.

“I found these in the cargo hold a month ago,” Shiro says. “Been wanting to give them a spin for a while. And Lance pointed out there’s basically no air here.” Shiro shrugs. “So, no air resistance.” There’s a long beat of silence before it’s broken by Keith’s guffaw.

“Goddamnit,” Keith says. “You just want to see how fast they can go.”

“For science,” Shiro says in an innocent voice that is also not at all innocent.

“So, we’re racing,” Lance says, a grin slowly spreading over his face.

“Well, I was also thinking we could also practice maneuvering and—“

“No, but we’re racing.” Lance hurries to a hoverbike and clambers on. “Let’s go, I need to leave all of you behind in the dust.”

“You wish,” Keith snaps, already hurrying for his own hoverbike.

The other three climb onto their hoverbikes as well, and within a few minutes, they’re zooming out into the wide, golden-gray plains. The sun has properly set at this point, but one of the planet’s moons gives off enough light to see by. They eventually find a flat space clear any boulders, and Shiro signals for them to slow and gather around him.

“All right,” he says, gesturing at the plain. “The circuit starts here, loops around that crater, and comes back. No smashing the hoverbikes into each other and no trying to knock anyone off. Let’s say, hm, the race is five times around the circuit.”

“Anything else?” Keith asks.

Shiro grins. “Go fast,” he says.

They line their hoverbikes up, and Pidge sets up a timer to run on all their suits. When the signal goes off, their hoverbikes explode forward. Shiro quickly takes the lead, surprising no one. Which is fine; Lance is mainly focused on Keith.

The landscape rushes past in a dizzying blur, the golden-gray soil becoming a giant smear below Lance’s hoverbike. It would be nice to pull off his helmet and have some wind, but eh, this is already pretty awesome. They quickly approach the crater, and Shiro goes almost horizontal to round it. Keith is just a nose ahead of Lance, and Pidge and Hunk are right behind him.

When Lance rounds the crater, he lets out a wild, high whoop. He can hear Shiro and Pidge laughing, and even Hunk lets out a surprised, delighted sound. Only Keith is silent, bent over the handlebars of his hoverbike. Lance urges a little more juice from of his hoverbike, and he almost draws even with Keith. Keith glances back at him and nudges his hoverbike forward too. They whip around the circuit’s starting point, and Lance takes advantage of the curve to eek ahead of Keith. But at the crater, Keith pulls ahead again.

That’s more or less how it is for the next two rounds: Shiro in front, Keith and Lance neck to neck, and Hunk and Pidge in the rear. When they enter the final circuit, Lance’s butt isn’t even in its seat anymore, he’s leaned so far over the hoverbike’s handlebars. He and Keith tear across the landscape in Shiro’s wake, and as they approach the crater, Lance can see that whoever pulls out of this curve in front is going to win. He pushes his hoverbike just a little harder and aims for the space between Keith and the crater’s edge, trying to slip ahead.

It happens quickly. One second he’s sliding past Keith, the next the world flips, and Lance’s hands slip from the hoverbike entirely. He gets a brief glance of the night sky below him and the golden-gray ground above him before something slams hard into his shoulder. Another second of being airborne, and his vision whites out briefly when something hits his head, jarring his neck and making him shout in pain. After that comes a flurry of movement, pain blooming across his back and shoulders, and finally, stillness.

For several seconds, Lance keeps his eyes screwed shut and can hear nothing but his own hard breathing echoing in his helmet. Only, no, there’s also voices. Voices shouting his name.

“Lance!”

“Mm.” Lance starts to move, then stops with a hiss. His entire body feels like one pulsing bruise.

“ _Lance_!”

“Yeah,” he slurs, peeling his eyes open. He sees a stretch of golden-gray soil, and past that, a wall of the same soil. The crater. He fell into the crater.

“Hang on, hang on,” someone is saying into his comms system. “Don’t move. I’m coming down.”

“’kay,” Lance murmurs. He catches a glimpse of something white and manages to shift his head enough to see his hoverbike lying a few meters from him. It doesn’t seem completely busted, so that’s a win.

“Lance.” Feet, and then there’s Shiro kneeling in front of him. Lance peers up at him.

“I messed up,” he says in a blank voice.

“It’s fine,” Shiro says, though his voice is tight. “Can you feel everything?”

“What—oh.” Lance stares at Shiro in blank terror for several seconds while he tries to mentally catalogue everything. Legs? Yes, they seem to be responding. Arms? The right shoulder hurts like hell, but he can definitely feel both of them.

“I.. I think I’m okay,” Lance says. “I mean, my right shoulder is possibly dislocated, and everything hurts, so not _that_ okay.”

“We can work with bruises and dislocations, though,” Shiro murmurs. “Think you can sit up?”

“Willing to try,” Lance says. Shiro places a hand under Lance’s shoulder, and after bracing himself, Lance eases himself to a sit. “Mierda,” he hisses.

Shiro pauses. “Okay?”

“Yup. Hunky dory.”

Shiro huffs a light laugh and pushes Lance the rest of the way up. Lance winces, but he manages it. In this position, he can see Hunk, Pidge, and Keith crowded together at the crater’s lip.

“You alive?” Pidge asks, and her voice is just a bit too shaky to come off as properly sardonic.

“Aw, did I worry you, Pidge-a-widge?” Lance croaks. Pidge gives him the finger, and that pulls a laugh from him. Which instantly sets his ribs on fire, and he has to cut himself off with a curse.

“No, seriously, are you okay?” Hunk asks. “You did a few flips on the way down.”

“Did it look cool?”

“It looked like you were lucky not to break your neck,” Keith says. His voice is tight and hard. Probably angry that Lance stole his victory by face planting his way down a crater.

“Can you stand?” Shiro asks.

“If you help.” Shiro obligingly loops Lance’s left arm over his shoulders and eases him up. Lance manages it pretty well, actually, and his legs only shake a little. He eyes his hoverbike. “Is it broken?” he asks. “And if it is broken, can we fix it before Allura finds out?”

“Dunno.” Shiro frowns at the hoverbike then glances up at the other three. “Hunk? Think you can make your way down here?”

“Uh, probably.” Hunk surveys the crater for a moment before moving to a shallower edge. He slides his way down to them, first running over to check on Lance for himself. Lance gives him a small smile, and Hunk shakes his head as he gently pats Lance’s uninjured shoulder.

“Don’t do that again, man,” he says in a serious voice. “You legit gave me a heart attack.”

“I blame Keith,” Lance says, still smiling. Keith makes an affronted noise.

“Okay, okay,” Shiro says, cutting off whatever retort Keith had been about to throw back. “Hunk, hoverbike.”

“Yup.” Hunk jogs to the toppled hoverbike and yanks it upright. He looks over it briefly then tries turning it on. It makes a high, whining sound, sputters, then powers off again.

“Ah,” Shiro says, while Lance says, “Well, shit.”

“I think the thrusters are just out of alignment,” Hunk says. “I can fix it once we’re back at the castle.”

“Yeah, but someone’s going to have to carry it back,” Pidge says.

“One of us could take a hoverbike to the castle and then bring their lion back to pick everyone else up,” Keith offers.

“No can do,” Pidge says. “Coran’s in the middle of recalibrating the lions’ exit chutes. They’re trapped in their hangars until he’s done. There’s a reason Coran was so careful about picking a super remote planet.”

“And we can’t have the castle ship come out to meet us; it has too many systems offline right now,” Shiro says. He exhales. “Okay. Hunk, is there a way to hitch Lance’s hoverbike to one of ours?”

“Oh, yeah,” Hunk says, brightening. “Of course.”

“Do that.” Shiro shifts to peer at Lance. “How well can you walk?”

“Gonna be honest. I’m pretty much only upright because of you.”

“Hm. Okay, then do you mind if I carry you out of here?”

“You kidding? Being carried to safety by Takashi Shirogane is, like, item number three on my bucket list.” There’s a chorus of groans over the comms line from everyone except Shiro. Lance is just starting to wonder if he crossed the line when Shiro’s mouth quirks up at the edge.

“Does piggyback count?” Shiro asks. “Because that’s what it’s going to have to be.”

“Eh.” Lance tilts his head. “It’ll do.”

A few minutes later, Shiro is carefully climbing a shallow slope of the crater with Lance on his back while behind him, Hunk and Keith use Keith’s hoverbike to tow Lance’s busted one. Lance is a little indignant that Keith is the one saving his hoverbike, but his head is also pounding way too hard for him to focus on it. He keeps his forehead pressed against Shiro’s shoulder, his arms and legs wrapped around him, and tries not to whine every time Shiro jostles him. When everyone is back on flat ground, Shiro slowly lowers Lance to the ground, keeping an arm around his waist to help keep him upright.

“So what I’m thinking,” Hunk says, “is we put Lance on his hoverbike, and Keith goes super, super slowly to tow him.”

Lance snorts blearily. “Good luck with that.”

“I can go slowly,” Keith says, frowning.

“I like that idea, Hunk,” Shiro cuts in. “I’ll stay with them. You and Pidge can go ahead of us back to the castle.”

“Why would we do that?” Pidge asks.

“Yeah, nah,” Hunk says, shaking his head. “We’re sticking together.”

Shiro opens his mouth as if to argue then seems to think better of it. He nods and starts helping Lance toward his hoverbike. It takes some doing, but they manage to get Lance settled in. Lance hunches over the handlebars, squinting through the pounding in his head.

“You okay?” Hunk asks, placing a hand on his back.

“I’ll feel better once I can lay down,” Lance murmurs.

“We’ll get you there,” Hunk promises.

They start in the direction of the castle. Keith runs his hoverbike at a puttering pace while Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro keep their hoverbikes on neutral and push them along while they walk. Hunk keeps his hand on Lance’s back, and Lance isn’t sure if Hunk is doing it to comfort him or if he genuinely thinks Lance might tip over without the extra support. Probably both.

“Sorry, guys,” Lance mutters after a few minutes of walking.

“Why?” Pidge asks. “It was an accident. And you’re the one all beaten up.”

“Should have been more careful,” Lance says, shrugging.

“I thought you were blaming me,” Keith says blandly.

“Oh yeah. That too.” But there’s no heat to it, and Lance can see Keith glance back to give him a half considering, half amused look.

“It’s my fault,” Shiro says from behind them.

“Oh please,” Pidge says, sighing loudly. “Don’t start.”

“I’m the one who suggested racing—“

“Listen to Pidge,” Lance snaps. “I lost control of my bike. My fault. I win. The end.”

There’s a long bought of silence before Shiro snorts softly. “We’ll call it a draw.” Lance rolls his eyes, but there’s no real arguing with Shiro’s sense of responsibility.

“Whoa,” Hunk suddenly says.

“What?” Lance jerks his head up and winces at the movement.

“Oh, sorry,” Hunk says. “I just mean that.” Lance peers up at where Hunk is pointing to see a massive, white body visibly rising from the horizon.

“Holy shit,” Pidge breathes. “That’s one of the moons.”

“Wow,” Keith says, slowing the hoverbike almost to a stop. “I’ve never seen one that big.”

“It must be super close,” Hunk says, grinning. “Look at that thing. It’s taking up half the sky.”

“I say again,” Lance nods. “Space is weird.”

Within a few minutes, the moon is fully risen. It bathes them in so much pale light that it could almost be day again, if during an especially cloudy day. It makes their path back to the castle much clearer, at least.

“Hey, Lance?”

Lance glances over to find Keith looking back at him.

“Eyes on the road, buddy,” Lance says. Keith’s eyebrows draw together.

“I just wanted to say,” Keith says. “When you’re healed up a little, we should have a rematch.”

Lance’s eyebrows lift. “Really?”

“I mean, only if you want to—“

“Of course I want to,” Lance says, smirking. “What, you think I’m going to let you run around thinking you’re better at hoverbikes than me?”

Keith’s mouth twists up at its edge. “No racing near craters, though,” he says. “I think we learned our lesson there.”

“Fair enough.” Lance nods.

Still smiling slightly, Keith turns to face forward again. Lance settles back down on the handlebars and lets himself drift off while the others chat around him.

And yeah, most of his body is bruised, and that right shoulder still seems to be dislocated, but he surprisingly relaxed at the moment. He’s got people who are looking out for him, and he’s being towed under the light of a soft, alien moon. As far as these things go, it’s not half bad.


End file.
